A facial image search system that detects a facial image from images acquired by a plurality of cameras installed at a plurality of locations and searches a database for the facial image is known. The facial image search system also detects a facial image from images acquired by a camera or images stored in a recording apparatus and stores the facial image in a database.
When a facial image is searched for, the processing time needed for the search increases in accordance with the amount of information of a database. Thus, a problem that it may take time before a search result is extracted is posed.
For example, text may be added to images in a database to narrow down search targets based on the added text, but search processing may not be able to keep up if a plurality of search requests of facial images is received at the same time.
Processing loads may be distributed by distributing and storing images in a plurality of databases, but the database to be searched may not be identifiable.